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PITP-V049 |
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ARTIST:
Slow Dancing Society ALBUM NAME: Do We Become Sky? CATALOGUE NUMBER: PITP-V049 RELEASE DATE: December 27, 2023 1:00pm EDT CONTACT: Past Inside the Present 1701 E. Edgewood Ave. #17712 Indianapolis, IN 46217 USA contact@pastinsidethepresent.com |
FORMAT:
'Black Nebula' 2LP set + download card Digital Download [at] pitp.bandcamp.com Streaming through all major digital streaming platforms DISTRIBUTION: Past Inside the Present D2C (US), A Thousand Arms (US), Juno Records (UK), Phonica (UK), HHV (DE), Soundohm (IT), Tobira Records (JP), Linus Records (JP), Redeye (UK), and others PUBLISHING: © 2023 Past Inside the Present ℗ 2023 Past Inside the Present Publishing (BMI) CREDITS: All songs produced, arranged, composed and performed by Slow Dancing Society Mixed and mastered by Drew Sullivan at SDS Studios Original Photography by Drew Sullivan Layout and graphic design by zakè Marketed, distributed, and phonographic copyright by Past Inside the Present Cut at ODM - Pressed by dunk!pressing |
Do We Become Sky?
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SLOW DANCING SOCIETY – DO WE BECOME SKY?
(Past Inside the Present, 2023) It is not the limit. It’s a fragile shield against the infinitely expanding freeze; it’s a network of invisible rivers that connects every continent and every creature, forever confronting science with its caprices; its psychic soot falls to rest on each of us. With all the reverence that terrestrial awe can afford, the latest work from Washington’s Slow Dancing Society (aka Drew Sullivan) gazes up and asks, Do We Become Sky? Best experienced front-to-back in its 86-minute entirety, Do We Become Sky? is – by the artist’s description – a spiritual successor to 2008’s Priest Lake, circa ‘88, whose namesake location harbors visions of childhood freedom and innocence, of family road trips through northern Idaho and a yearning for something simpler that once existed under the same sun. Channeling the inevitably complicated feelings around loss and entropy through the years since, Sullivan relied on the unique, nostalgic tonality of the Korg Wavestation as the backbone of this set. Many of its tracks arrived nearly fully-formed, inspired by “dusty and blurred memories of sounds from youth that seemed to transcend time”. |
As a result there is a skillful arc of tension and resolution across the album’s four sides, sustained by a distinct balance of rhythm and drift. “The Past is Always Following Close Behind” pairs graceful, melancholy arpeggiations with rich beds of swelling harmony, accented by guitar plucks that strike like distant lightning and unfurl across the stereo field. The looser, cascading composition of “Retrograde” creates a transitional moment as the dial of a disused radio scans crackling signals through storm and static. There is a quiet unease, but the center holds itself reassuringly; this too shall pass.
“Time Won’t Forget What You Meant to Me” is perhaps the most direct nod to the artist’s main inspirations here; a lucid, evocative synth progression is wrapped in panning whispers, like the maundering conversations that arise and fall away by the lakeside or along trillium-lined forest trails. The final side succinctly collects the themes of all that came before; “The Return” hums with angelic sweetness and a sense of light emerging beyond the greyscale roil, while “Coda” closes the suite with towering guitars, warbling piano and a kinetic rush toward an unreachable horizon.
In considering the onset of adulthood realities and the attendant passing of friends and family members over the years, Sullivan cited this quote from Clive Barker’s Imajica as particularly resonant:
“Remember that everything you learn is already part of you, even to the Godhead Itself. Study nothing except in the knowledge that you already knew it. Worship nothing except in adoration of your true self. And fear nothing except in the certainty that you are your enemy’s begetter and its only hope for healing, for everything that does evil is in pain.”
Written by Thomas Meluch
[Benoît Pioulard], October 2023
“Time Won’t Forget What You Meant to Me” is perhaps the most direct nod to the artist’s main inspirations here; a lucid, evocative synth progression is wrapped in panning whispers, like the maundering conversations that arise and fall away by the lakeside or along trillium-lined forest trails. The final side succinctly collects the themes of all that came before; “The Return” hums with angelic sweetness and a sense of light emerging beyond the greyscale roil, while “Coda” closes the suite with towering guitars, warbling piano and a kinetic rush toward an unreachable horizon.
In considering the onset of adulthood realities and the attendant passing of friends and family members over the years, Sullivan cited this quote from Clive Barker’s Imajica as particularly resonant:
“Remember that everything you learn is already part of you, even to the Godhead Itself. Study nothing except in the knowledge that you already knew it. Worship nothing except in adoration of your true self. And fear nothing except in the certainty that you are your enemy’s begetter and its only hope for healing, for everything that does evil is in pain.”
Written by Thomas Meluch
[Benoît Pioulard], October 2023
✦
“With the music breathing so unhurriedly, the listener finds their inner state gradually attuned to languorous electronic rhythms; an entrancing swirl of piano, synthesizer, and guitar.”
– Textura on Lanterna Magica
"Sullivan simply and continuously finds the right notes, the right sequences and textures, and blends them into this moving, warm nostalgia-drenched and straightforward mix that crashes right into the soul."
– Igloo Magazine on The Cogent Sea
"Slow Dancing Society employs velvety synths that wash all over you and intricate guitar playing that tugs at your heart-strings. Sullivan is a superbly talented musician."
- Sputnik Music on The Sound of Lights When Dim
"If ever there was an artist who truly expressed themselves in a way that defies everything music and art expects, and at times demands, then Slow Dancing Society would be that artist."
– Juno Records on My Blue Heaven
“With the music breathing so unhurriedly, the listener finds their inner state gradually attuned to languorous electronic rhythms; an entrancing swirl of piano, synthesizer, and guitar.”
– Textura on Lanterna Magica
"Sullivan simply and continuously finds the right notes, the right sequences and textures, and blends them into this moving, warm nostalgia-drenched and straightforward mix that crashes right into the soul."
– Igloo Magazine on The Cogent Sea
"Slow Dancing Society employs velvety synths that wash all over you and intricate guitar playing that tugs at your heart-strings. Sullivan is a superbly talented musician."
- Sputnik Music on The Sound of Lights When Dim
"If ever there was an artist who truly expressed themselves in a way that defies everything music and art expects, and at times demands, then Slow Dancing Society would be that artist."
– Juno Records on My Blue Heaven
RIYL:
Loscil, Bola, Tangerine Dream, Oneohtrix Point Never, Rival Consoles, Suzanne Ciani, Angelo Badalamenti
Loscil, Bola, Tangerine Dream, Oneohtrix Point Never, Rival Consoles, Suzanne Ciani, Angelo Badalamenti
Selected PITP Works
Red Sun Chadeauxs [CS/DL] PITP-C018
prologue: The Magic Lantern [CS/DL] PITP-C022
The Disappearing Collective Vol. I [LP/DL] PITP-V019
Red Sun Chadeauxs [CS/DL] PITP-C018
prologue: The Magic Lantern [CS/DL] PITP-C022
The Disappearing Collective Vol. I [LP/DL] PITP-V019
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